Hard Questions
by Disasteriffic Kaz
Summary: Written for a prompt: Wee!Chesters Sam wonders why they aren't like other families and Dean must find a way to explain without telling the truth. Sam 6/Dean 10


**Title:** Hard Questions

**Author**: Disasteriffic Kaz

**Info**: Written for a prompt: Wee!Chesters Sam wonders why they aren't like other families and Dean must find a way to explain without telling the truth. Sam 6/Dean 10

**Author's Note**: For Jenjoremy – Who has leant me her services editing my upcoming novel. This is the one shot she requested. Prompt will be at the end and THANK YOU, dear, for all your hard work! I hope this is what you wanted. :D

**Beta'd by the always awesome JaniceC678** :D– Friend and Muse's co-conspirator.

_**Follow me on Facebook as "Disasteriffic Kaz" for frequent fic updates or just to chat!__**  
**__**~Reviews are Love~**_

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Dean stood outside the primary school at the gate shifting from foot to foot in an effort to not get cold while waiting in the early winter chill. He grinned when he heard the bell and waited for the rush of kids. He knew the few friends he'd made in the last five days at their new school thought he was a dork for walking his little brother home every day. Dean rolled his eyes. They were morons. He'd failed his little brother and his Dad once…just once…a couple years ago and almost lost Sam because of it. That was never gonna happen again.

Dean stood on tiptoe as the flood of midgets came out of the front of the building and unerringly spotted his little brother's dark, shaggy head as Sam emerged. "Come on, Short Round!" Dean called as Sam neared and grinned when his six-year-old little brother shot him a disgusted look.

"I'm not a Asian sidekick, Dean." Sam rolled his eyes, looking up at his brother. "And I'm not that much shorter than you, jerk."

Dean snorted and put a hand in his brother's hair, ruffling it forward into his eyes before he put an arm over his shoulders and started him walking. "Whatever, bitch. You're a midget." He chuckled and reached over to pull Sam's jacket together. "Zip up, dude. It's cold out here."

"Dad hears you cussin' at me again, s'gonna make you pay the swear jar," Sam smirked at him and then looked back down at his feet while he zipped up his thin jacket.

"I ain't worried." Dean gave him a little shake and walked on, shortening his stride so Sam could keep up. He'd hit ten and shot up over a foot taller than Sam in the last few months, and it was still a little odd realizing how small Sam suddenly appeared. In his head, Dean was running through what they had at home to feed his little brother. Dad had been gone three days already and Dean knew it would likely be three more before he made it back. He wished sometimes that Sam could know what their Dad was doing and be less disappointed in him all the time. Dean sighed. He didn't want Sam to know about the monsters, though, and Sam getting to be a normal kid was more important to Dean than having him not be mad with Dad…he just wished he could have both. It occurred to Dean suddenly that Sam hadn't said a word in almost ten minutes and that wasn't like him. New school and new kids - normally, he couldn't shut Sam up and it made him worry.

"Pretty quiet today, squirt. Everything alright?" Dean asked and draped an arm back over his brother's shoulders. He pulled him in when he felt the shiver run through the kid. Sam shook his head but didn't say anything and Dean frowned harder. "It's Friday, dude. Movie night." He looked down, waiting for the expected smiled and didn't like that he didn't get one. "Sammy?"

"Joey Carr's birthday is next week," Sam blurted it out. "The whole class got invited."

Dean sighed and squeezed his hand on his brother's shoulder. Sometimes being the new kid just plain sucked. "Sorry, Sammy. Maybe if we're here long enough, you'll get invited to somebody else's birth…"

"I got a invite." Sam shrugged under his brother's arm. "His mom heard there was a new kid, and she sent one in today just for me."

Dean bit his bottom lip for a moment, trying to figure out why Sam was upset and came up empty. "Oookay. That's…that's cool, though, right? You get to go?"

"They all know each other," Sam said softly.

"Well, yeah. They're all in the same class."

"No; I mean, like…" Sam blew out a breath and shoved his hair out of his eyes, trying to find a way to explain it. "They've all known each other for, like, ever, Dean. They went to kindergarten together, and Brian says he and Mark were even in preschool together. And their parents are always there, you know? Or at least their…their moms or their dads and stuff and…there's always someone to cook them dinner and tuck them in and…how come we're not like them?"

Dean was slowly being overtaken by a sinking feeling as Sam had rambled on and on. They were the questions he was hoping his little brother would never get around to asking. "I, uh…damn." He ran a hand back through his hair and pulled his brother to a stop. Dean knelt and turned Sam to face him, cupping the sides of his neck comfortingly. "You know we're not exactly like other families, dude."

"'cause we don't have a mom," Sam whispered sadly.

Dean's heart squeezed and he nodded, taking a moment to swallow around the lump in his throat. "Dad…he's doin' the best he can, Sammy, and…it ain't great, I know, but there's always a roof over our heads and…and I make you dinner every night, right?" He smiled when Sam nodded, looking at him with a serious expression and listening intently in the way only a six-year-old trying to understand something just a bit beyond his reach can. "I'm always here for ya' and I tuck your shrimp ass in bed every night, and I even let ya' hide in my bed when the thunder scares you, don't I?"

Sam nodded again and swallowed. "Yeah." He looked down at his feet and then back up into Dean's green eyes. "Dean, did Dad used to be like…like other dads? Like, happy and stuff?"

Dean shrugged and nodded shortly. "Yeah, Sam. He did." He remembered how he and Dad used to toss a football…how he used to be anxious for Sam to be old enough to join them. Dean swallowed hard again and squashed the tears that threatened, forcing himself to smile instead. "Sometimes when dads lose moms, they just…it's hard, you know? And Dad, he tries, but…it's not so bad, is it, kiddo?"

"I dunno." Sam sniffed and leaned into the hands on his neck, giving a small shrug. "I guess not."

"Come on." Dean stood again and pulled Sam along with him, keeping him close to help warm him. "When's this party?"

"Tomorrow night." Sam shrugged again under his arm. "Don't have to go. S'ok, Dean."

Dean said nothing and just kept walking. Dad was paranoid about letting Sam out of their sight for any reason. There were some days Dean was surprised they were even allowed to go to school. He groaned, knowing he'd have to call Dad, tell him and hope he could talk him into it, because, dammit, his little brother deserved a little bit of normal for as long as he could have it, and normal kids went to birthday parties.

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Dean pulled his jacket more tightly around him where he sat against a tree and looked at the white, two-story house across the street with a little smile. He could hear kids laughing and sometimes see them running around in the big bay window in the front of the house. He checked his watch, waiting for eight-o-clock, when he would collect Sam and thought back to the call with their Dad with a frown.

"_No."_

"_Dad, it's just a birthday party!"_

"_It's a stranger's house with people we don't know and you want to just leave your brother alone with them? No, Dean."_

"_Dad, come on!" Dean groaned and shook his head. "Sammy's just a kid. Kids go to birthday parties. He's not gonna get hurt. I'll be there too."_

"_We both know you can't always have his back, Dean."_

_Dean stilled and sucked in a pained breath at the oblique reminder of having failed his little brother once. "Dad…that's…it'll never happen again. I can protect him." He heard his father draw in a long breath and plowed ahead before he could speak. "It's just a damn birthday party, Dad. Let him be a kid! Just…just a little longer, ok? I swear I won't let him outta my sight. I'll take care of Sammy. I promise, Dad. Please?" Dean waited, listening to his dad breathe on the other end of the phone for several long moments and closed his eyes, hoping for the best but fearing he'd have to let Sam down again._

"_Alright."_

_Dean blinked in surprise. "Alright?"_

_John chuckled softly. "Yeah, Ace. Alright. He can go, but you go with him." The humor fled his voice and turned stern. "You don't let him out of your sight. You get Sammy home by eight-thirty. That's true night and I want you both inside by then. And, Dean, don't go unarmed."_

"_Yeah, Dad. I will! I mean, I won't. I mean…" Dean trailed off in surprise as his father laughed; it was something he hadn't heard much of in the last six years._

Dean smiled softly to himself and looked across the street again. He had Dad's pistol in his jacket pocket and tried not to feel strange about watching a birthday party with a loaded gun; tried very hard not to imagine the look on his little brother's face if Sam knew about it or about him lurking across the road the entire time. Yeah, he had promised his dad that he would keep an eye on Sammy, but he also knew that insisting he had to go to the party too would just result in his brother not wanting to go, not wanting to stand out as needing his big brother to watch over him. So he had said nothing, bundled up, and waited patiently in the chilly evening, never taking his eyes off the house. Dean shook his head and checked his watch again. He stood and jumped a couple times to get the blood flowing before heading over to the little white house. Some days like this, even Dean wished he could just be a normal ten-year-old…he wished he didn't know about the monsters.

He strode up the steps and knocked loudly on the door, smiling when it opened to reveal an attractive, middle-aged woman with long, dark hair. "Hi. I'm here to get my little brother. Sammy?"

She smiled and nodded. "You must be Dean. Let me go round him up." She turned to go back in the house and stopped in surprise when Sam appeared at her elbow. "Sam! Your brother's here."

"Yep." Sam smiled and stepped out onto the porch, not arguing when Dean took his shoulders and turned him around to face her again, squeezing his shoulder lightly in a gentle reminder to remember his manners as they had talked about earlier. "Thanks for the invitation, Mrs. Carr. I had fun."

"It was very nice to meet you, Sam." Mrs. Carr brushed her fingers over his cheek and smiled widely. "And you, Dean. I hope we get to see more of you."

"Yes, ma'am." Dean smiled up at her and wrapped an arm around his brother. "Come on, squirt."

Sam let himself be pulled away and waited until they were down the sidewalk before he reached in his pocket and pulled out a bag. "Here, Dean."

"What's this?" Dean took it and pulled it open, staring in surprise when he saw several candies and a kind of sad looking, smushed little brownie inside.

Sam smiled. "Sittin' outside so long, you gotta be hungry, right?"

Dean stopped and stared at him. "Out…what?"

Sam rolled his eyes and started walking. "You're a lousy ninja." He turned, walking backwards and stuck his tongue out at his big brother. "Saw you over there under the tree."

"I'm a…" Dean shook his head and started after his brother as he folded the top of the bag closed. "Ninjas are lame, dude. I'm Batman."

"Nuh-uh. Batman could'a hid from a six year old." Sam ducked his brother's hand grasping for his shoulder with a laugh. "You're more like…Batgirl."

"Hey!" Dean roared and chased after him down the sidewalk. He caught his laughing little brother and carried him under one arm while he squealed for a few steps before letting him down and keeping hold of him. "Pain in my ass, Sammy."

Sam snorted and wrapped his arms around his big brother's waist while they walked. "Thanks, Dean."

"For callin' you a pain in the ass?" Dean smirked. "I can do that all day."

"No, jerk!" Sam rolled his eyes and shoved his brother over a step, smiling. "For makin' Dad lemme go to the party. It was cool."

Dean considered arguing but his brother was in a good mood, not arguing and not moping. He grinned. "Someone's gotta keep you outta trouble." He ruffled his brother's hair, happy that, for now at least, Sam wasn't asking questions he didn't want to answer. "What do ya' say we grab those slingshots Uncle Bobby helped us make and see how many rats we can pick off in the basement?"

Sam grinned and nodded. "I get more than you, you gotta watch my movie."

Dean groaned and rolled his eyes. "No way. I am not sittin' through Oliver and lame Company again."

"Knew it," Sam chuckled and bounced away from him again. "You're chicken."

"I am not a…fine!" Dean shouted and raced after him. He laughed as he caught Sam up again and carried him toward the little run-down house they were living in. "I win and we're watchin' Die Hard." Dean set him down and opened the door. "Twice!" He let Sam run inside ahead of him, filling the little house with laughter and knew he'd be suffering through Oliver and Company later. It was worth it.

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_The End. _

_Jenjoremy's original prompt: so the story opens up with the boys walking home from school. Sam is six and in first grade; Dean is ten and in fifth. Deans looks down and notes that Sam is unusually quiet. They started this school on Monday and Sam has been talking about his activities every day on the way home. Today is Friday and Sam is silent. Dean says something along the lines of, "Pretty quiet today squirt. Everything okay?" Sam hesitates and then mentions that another boy is having a birthday party tomorrow. Dean winces and thinks Sam is upset because he wasn't invited. Sam tells him that he did get an invitation today. Dean doesn't understand why he's upset. Sam tells him that the boy gave out the invitations last week before Sam joined the class. The mother sent in a special invitation today when she realized another child had joined the class. Turns out Sam has figured out that all the kids have been together since the beginning of the year. He's the only new kid. Most were in the same school last year, and many were even in the same Kindergarten class. Some even attended preschool together. Sam realizes that these kids have known each other "forever" while he has never had a friend for more than several months. These kids have one or two parents who are home for dinner every night while his dad is sometimes away for days at a time. He wants to know why they live such a different sort of life and Dean does NOT want to tell him the truth. Not yet._


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